FORE-EDGE PAINTING). SKURRAY, REV. FRANCIS
BIDCOMBE HILL, WITH OTHER RURAL POEMSPrinted for William Miller, London 1808 - 191 x 121 mm (7 1/2 x 4 3/4"). 6 p.l., [3]-56, 56*, [3], 57-153, [1] (errata) pp. FIRST EDITION. Contemporary straight-grain green morocco, elaborately decorated in gilt and blind, covers with gilt palmette frame enclosing black-tooled floral frame, flat spine with panels intricately tooled in gilt and black, gilt-rolled turn-ins, marbled endleaves, all edges gilt. WITH A FINE PASTORAL FORE-EDGE PAINTING OF SAINT BEE'S COLLEGE, CUMBERLAND. In a later sturdy fleece-lined cloth slipcase. With four engraved plates. Spine sunned to light green, muted spotting to leather, plates somewhat foxed, other minor defects, but still quite a pleasing copy, the binding with only insignificant wear, the text bright, fresh, and clear, and the margins very ample. This is a pretty little book featuring a very pleasing fore-edge painting of unusual composition. The painted scene presents a pastoral tableau, with Saint Bee's College in Wiltshire in the background at center-right and cottages in mid-ground, all in a treed landscape. Two shepherds and their sheep populate the foreground. The colors are soft, capturing the typical gray English afternoon. Notably, the composition is a pleasing alternative to the typical edifice-flanked-by-trees within a static landscape design. Here, that arrangement is broken up, the landscape is contoured, and perspective is heightened: the composition has shape, depth, and dimension, all realized with a muted and delicate technique. The painting is surely from the 19th century, and it may well have been done before 1850. Written by parson and schoolmaster Francis Skurray (1774-1848), this collection was described by "The British Critic and Quarterly Theological Review" as an "elegantly printed volume" of "local poetry, which is particularly interesting." [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]
[Bookseller: Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA)]